Shopping Day

So we must be on the right time zone now as Sheryl and I slept in and Samantha was up at her usual time of 7:30.

For three days now I've been trying to get used to Turkish coffee and it's not easy. And for three days now, when we leave the hotel, we turn left and head for the sites. Today we were focused on experiencing the Grand Bazaar which required us to make a right from the hotel

 Yes that is our hotel entrance right next to Starbucks.

And I'm a happy guy once again.

So today was a shopping day. The Grand Bazaar hosts over 4,000 merchants who sell carpets, leather, silk, jewellery, spices, antiques, souvenirs and almost anything you can imagine.

We had already purchased our rugs a couple days ago, so we started by looking at the leathers. Once again it didn't take long before a merchant ushered us into his store (again he must have seen me coming a mile away). The merchant's name was Rustu, owner of Karizma Leather. He was the purchaser of the raw leather, the manufactured the leather and the seller the leather (no middle man here). We probably spent the better part of two hours trying on various leather jackets.

That's Rustu on the left trying to sell everyone a leather jacket.

In the end we settled on a this jacket.

We also hunted around for a couple other items which I can't tell you about as we want to surprise two other special ladies who will be receiving them once we get back.

For dinner we intended on exploring new restaurants but as we were leaving the hotel we noticed a waiter performing a ritual with a clay pot and we just had to give this a try. The meal was chicken and lamb with vegetables and a fantastic sause (sause being a requirement in the Jacobson family).

Dinner in Turkey

Another great day in Istanbul.